IMPERIUM INSECTUM

I tucked myself under a set of bushes and quickly pulled up the hive management screen.

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• Population of hive: 70
• Resources: 1400
• Total amount of Eggs: 15

Unspecified Eggs: 15

Specified Eggs: 0

• Unit types.

 

[SELF IMPREGNATION] [HOST IMPREGNATION]

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<I need you to scout their headquarters. We need to know how many of them are in there before we go forward>

<Yes! Mother.> He lifted one of his legs and gave me a salute, and flew off. I  then used [Hive Link] to connect with him. My vision suddenly went totally black and then just as quickly snapped back. However, this time, I was seeing out of his eyes.

<Mother?>

<Don’t panic. I think it would be better if we looked around together.>

The hideout was split into 2 parts. First, there was the outside, which looked like a campsite. There was a huge fire pit in the centre,  Surrounded by makeshift log benches. Away from the benches, there were some makeshift tents made out of some type of animal skin. The camp was scattered with wooden crates and barrels, And there was some type of game animal hanging from a metal rack. The second part was a cave that led down into the ground. It must be important, judging by the large number of people coming in and out of it.

I saw 2 people come walking out of the cave. One of them was a regular-sized man with a short sword on his hip and messy brown hair. The other was a very large, well-built man with a large black beard. The man walked around with an air of confidence Like he owned the place. Yep, no doubt in my mind that he was the boss.

<Fly a little closer. I wanna hear what they are talking about>

He gave another salute and flew down towards the man. He wove in between other humans and then attached himself to the boss's expensive-looking clothing. The perks of being so small are that people barely notice you.

“Hey, errr…. Boss.” The brown-haired man said

“What!? Spit it out, Andrew.”

Andrew instantly stood at attention.

“Wo… would you mind If me and a few of the guys go out and look for Ali and her team. They should be back by now. I'm Jus worried, is all?”

“Who cares!?” the boss yelled. He walked up to one of his underlings and Swiped a bottle of drink from one of his hands. The underling sighed and went off  to get another”

 “They probably fucked off into Doonvatel to get drunk or something.”

“Yeah, bu-“

“Look.” He said. Putting his big meaty fingers on his shoulder.

 “Ali is pretty capable and can look after herself. They probably strayed a bit too far and decided to camp out for the night. We will probably see them in the morning.” He took a swig from the drink he stole.

Andrew still had a worried look on his face that hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Andrew, you need to remember Ali, is my second in command. She is the toughest woman I know. Learn to relax.”

“It’s Just that I really want to tell her something.”

“Oh, and what’s that,” He said with a mischievous grin. His boss slowly crept up to him

Andrew slowly started backing away. “Its… jus…I was….. planning  to” He kept backing away until he nearly tripped on a branch, Causing a small wooden box to fall from his pocket. He quickly scrambled to pick it up, but the boss was faster.

“What do we ‘ave ’ere Then, Andrew,” He said mischievous tone.  The boss opened it to reveal a silver ring with ornate designs on it. Everyone in the camp looked at Andrew in silence for a few seconds Before bursting into laughter.  

Andrew tried to hide his face, but that was next to near impossible.

“Alright, Lads, that’s enough. If we laugh, anymore, Andrew might die of embarrassment,” The boss said. The camp slowly started to quiet down, but you would still hear small chuckles here and there.

“Ok, I see why you are motivated, But I’m still not letting you go. However, if Ali ain’t here by tomorrow morning, You and a few boys can go look for her. Now go get some shut-eye.”

“Yes! Boss!” He yelled with a stupid grin and instantly bolted into one of the tents.

We flew off the boss's body and towards the cave. That was interesting maybe I could use this. And that girl's name is Ali. Not like it matters, but it's good to know. We flew into the cave to investigate more about the hideout.

<Crap, I forgot to count how many there were”

<15 mother.>

<Good boy>

From the corner of my eye, I saw his leg twitch. So he has a quirk too.

We did a quick once over and discovered the cave was split into 4 areas. First, there was a locked area which I guess was the boss’s room. Second, There was a small area filled with a bunch of rusted metal cages. A third area filled with chests, barrels and all manner of storage items. And finally, a large area filled with loads of blankets and straw mattresses Some of which had some people sleeping on them. We quickly counted everyone and found there were at least around 30 men in total in the hideout.

<Good job. Now fly back to me> I disconnected [hive link] and started coming up with a plan. I instantly ruled out a full frontal assault. There were too many people for me to handle at once, even if I were to use my children, we still wouldn’t be enough, and we would surely all die. Another option is using the [Bestial call] Ability to call over a bunch of animals to do my job for me. Thinking about It, that’s a bad idea. I wouldn’t know what I’m calling over, and there is no guarantee that what I'm calling over would kill them, and by using the call, I would give away the element of surprise. I need a guarantee, not a possibility, and I need a way to keep the element of surprise.

<Mother, I'm back>

<That was quick.> I looked at him and then had a brain wave. I quickly pulled up the description for royal fly.

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• Royal Fly

Whilst almost identical in appearance to a regular housefly. Internally they are completely different. Royal Flies possess both impressive speed and agility compared to regular flies. Additionally, Royal flies also boast a large amount of intelligence. Royal flies work as an extension of their queen and, as such, will be able to share certain abilities that she has. Royal flies can only exist inside the Queen's living hive and will reproduce automatically.

Gestation: 10 per 1/hr

Resources: 100

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< What abilities of mine can you use currently>

<As of right now, mother. I can use all of them except hive link.>

<Good, can you use [Venomous constitution] for me>

I watched as a small amount of green liquid started to drip from his mandibles.

<This is good. We can use this. Also, Why didn’t you use this earlier in our fight?>

<Sorry. Mother, but you asked us to only keep them busy. not kill them>

I thought back to the fight, and he was right. How could I have been so stupid.

<Sorry. It's not any of your fault. I will be clearer with my orders next time>

With that established, I now had a plan. But before we can execute, we need to wait until everyone falls asleep. Slowly over the next few hours, the people inside the camp went to their tents.

The boss got up from the wooden benches and started heading towards the cave.

“ Alright, It's getting late. I Suggest you all do the same.” He ordered. All the remaining, then went to bed. Leaving the camp eerily quiet. I waited for a few minutes to make sure everyone was asleep. And then summoned the entire nest in from me. They all came out one by one, trying to stay as quiet as possible. They knew the mission. Kill every one of them except Andrew. I have plans for him. I assigned at least 2 of my children to each camp member. I was confident one would be enough, but let’s not risk it. They all flew and operated with such precise coordination that it would put some special forces groups to shame. I Used hive link to follow one of the flies going to the Boss’s quarters. For the boss, I assigned 4 of my children. I’m not sure how strong he is, but I'm not leaving that up to chance. The squad of my children flew towards his room, but they were met with a locked iron door, which would have stopped most humans but wasn’t even an obstacle for my children. My children slowly crawled under the door and towards his bed. The boss was asleep just like the rest of them; perfect. My children then flew and attached themselves to his neck. And on my order, all of them bit into their targets, pumping as much venom as they could into their bodies before returning back to me. Mission Accomplished. Now we wait.

Soon the screams of men started to echo throughout the camp. Men weakly poured out of their tents, dripping with sweat and vomiting their guts out. The boss came charging out of the cave in a much worse state his entire chest was covered in red-stained vomit.  His body was bright pink and swollen beyond belief.

“H..e..l.P” he spat out weakly before collapsing onto the ground.  

Andrew, who had woken up from the commotion, looked incredibly panicked as men around him started dropping to the ground, convulsing in pain and eventually passing away in a puddle of their own fluids. It was such a beautiful sight to behold. Andrew ran up to the boss, who had collapsed to the floor.

“BOSS! WHAT'S WRONG!”

He didn’t respond. His face twisted in pain, and his Veins Bulged with a bright green colour. His number was up.  The boss tried to reach over to Andrew, but it was too late. He let out a pained gurgling noise as his mouth frothed with foam. Eventually, his body went limp. This happened all over the camp. Andrew tried his hardest to save his friends by giving them water and trying to stem the bleeding, but none of it worked. Soon the camp fell silent once more. I slowly climbed out of my hiding spot and towards Andrew. I took the time to look around the camp. Swollen, bright pink bodies lay frozen in place on the ground. I felt a twisted grin creep onto my face. Relax diva. We need to focus. Andrew turned around and saw me. He instantly pulled out his blade and pointed it at me.

“th.. th.. This was you.”

I jokingly feigned ignorance.

“Stop mocking me, creature!” He said, getting into a fighting stance.

“Oh, Andrew,” I said with pity. I instantly closed the distance between us and Delivered a swift blow to his stomach. He yelped out in pain and dropped his sword. Before it hit the ground, I grabbed it and drove it through his shoulder. He screeched out in pain and fell to his knees.

Pressing the advantage. I pushed him to the ground, grabbed the dagger that Cindi gave me and dove it into his other shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

“Why?” He asked through pained gasps.

“Why? Good question.” I walked over to the boss, tore a piece of fabric out of his clothes, and tied his feet together. Andrew's Face was plastered with a mix of anger, fear and hate.

“Stop making faces like that. It makes me want to hurt you more. But to answer your question, let me get a close friend of yours.” I left one of my children to watch him as I went to pick up the girl.  When I arrived, she was still awake, shivering in the cold night.

<How has she been>

<Good. Mother. She hasn’t tried anything>

<That’s good. Now go back to the others> He obediently flew back inside of me. I went and grabbed the girl. She started kicking and flailing her arms to get free from me as I started dragging her to the camp. She probably would have been screaming, But that leather gag was doing a fantastic job.  Soon we made it back to the camp.

“Ali!?”There was a brief wave of happiness on his face, followed by anger and shock.

“LET GO OF HER, YOU BASTARD!.”  He yelled with unyielding rage.

I lifted Ali onto her knees so she was facing Andrew. Andrew started reassuring her that everything was going to be okay and that he was gonna save her. Cute.

“What a lovely reunion,” I said with a massive grin on my face. So this is how “G” must have felt.

Andrew looked at me with all the hate and anger in the world.

“Let her go! She has nothing to do with this!”

I laughed out loud. “That’s funny because that couldn’t be even farther from the truth.”

 I walked behind Ali and Wrapped my clawed hand around her neck, Making sure to draw blood.

“Tell him,”I ordered as I pulled the piece of leather out of her mouth. She started coughing.

“Please don’t kill him”, She begged.

“Tell Him what you did.” I spat out coldly.

She looked at him and started talking, telling him every detail about what she did to me, my children.

“YEAH. SO WHAT!” He yelled, “ WHY SHOULD I CARE? FREAKS LIKE YOU NEED TO BE PUT DOWN”

I laughed even harder.

“Oh, I know you don’t care. This is less about you and more for her. I just want her to know what happens next is. All. Her. fault.” I said, with a giant grin plastered over my face.

I walked up to Andrew And pulled him to his knees. I then grabbed his face and placed my lips onto his. Andrew struggled and tried to fight my tongue. But it was pointless. Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation move up my throat. Then like a wave, a torrent of venom shot out of my mouth and down his throat. He struggled in my grasp, trying to fight it, but he was too weak. Eventually, I pulled away from his lips. A saliva strand broke from both of us as I pulled away.

I walked up to Ali, grabbed her head, and pointed it towards Andrew.

“You… will..watch..this,” I said in a bitter tone

Andrew’s body started convulsing on the floor. His skin turned a deep dark red. Blood streamed from his ears. His vessels were dark green as if all the blood had been replaced by venom. He let out an ear-piercing scream into the night. I forced her to watch all of this, Tears streaming down her face as she did so. Eventually, his convulsions stopped, and all signs of life left his body.

I walked up to Andrew and searched his pockets, and took out the brown box he had. I brought it up to her face and opened it.

“Such as shame. He had such big plans for you. Now he will never get to see them, And it's all your fault.”

At that moment, a part of her broke, and she let out an ear-piercing scream. she started saying his name and apologising for what she had did. But I wasn’t done with her, far from it. I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the cave. She still had to repay me for the children she killed.